SAP Business One

How-To Guide

PUBLIC

How to Manage Budgets

Applicable Release:

SAP Business One 8.8

All Countries

English

December 2009
Table of Contents

Purpose ........................................................................................................................................... 3

Defining Budget Settings............................................................................................................... 4

Defining Budget Distribution Methods......................................................................................... 6

Using Budget Scenarios ................................................................................................................ 8

Defining a New Budget Scenario........................................................................................... 8
Importing Budget Scenarios ................................................................................................ 10
Copying Budget Scenarios .................................................................................................. 12

Defining a Budget......................................................................................................................... 13
Changing the Distribution of Budget Amounts .................................................................... 16
Defining Budgets after the Commencement of Activity ....................................................... 18
Printing Budgets .................................................................................................................. 19

Working with Budget Reports ..................................................................................................... 20

Creating Budget Report....................................................................................................... 20
Creating Balance Sheet, Trial Balance, and Profit and Loss Statement Budget Reports... 23
Printing Budget Reports ...................................................................................................... 23

Appendix - Examples of Rounding Methods ............................................................................. 24

Authorizations .............................................................................................................................. 25

Database Tables Reference......................................................................................................... 26

Copyrights, Trademarks, and Disclaimers ................................................................................ 27

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How to Manage Budgets

Purpose
The Budget module helps you manage and track company expenses.
In SAP Business One a budget is based on the data entered, which specifies the maximum amount
that can be allocated to a particular G/L account. You can block the creation of transactions for G/L
accounts that exceed their budget limit.
In the course of routine work, the application checks the debit side of G/L accounts for which a budget
has been defined. If the budget is exceeded, the application either issues a warning or blocks the
action, depending on the chosen setting.

Note
ƒ The budget functionality works with calendar months only.
ƒ If your company manages a perpetual inventory system, you can use Purchase
Accounts Posting System. This option includes the recording of expense
accounts in journal entries created by purchasing documents that affect the
inventory valuation. You can use the budget functionality to control these
purchase accounts, thus monitoring your expenses in real time.
This functionality can be used in localizations where purchase accounting is used,
selecting this option enables purchase accounting. Once journal entries have
been made, this setting cannot be modified.
To activate the Purchase Accounts Posting System, from SAP Business One
Main Menu, choose Administration → System Initialization → Company Details →
Basic Initialization tab and select the Use Purchase Accounts Posting System
checkbox.

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Defining Budget Settings

You need to make specific settings before you can use the budget functionality.
1. From the SAP Business One Main Menu, choose Administration → System Initialization →
General Settings, and on the Budget tab select the Budget Initialization checkbox.

2. Under the title For a Document that Deviates from the Budget, choose one of the following
options:
{ Block Deviation from Budget - blocks the creation of transactions that cause the budget
to be exceeded.
{ Warning - in the event that the budget is exceeded, issues an alert, offering you the
option of confirming or canceling the transaction.
{ Without Warning – lets you add transactions without any restrictions. When you choose
this option, the rest of the fields are not displayed.
3. Specify the following data:
Field/Button Activity/Description Comments

For Annual/Monthly
Budget
Purchase Orders
Lets you manage your budget on For the annual budget, this
an annual or monthly basis. setting is updated per user.
For the monthly budget, it is
updated for all users in the
company, but only after the
next logon.
When you issue a purchase order,
the application performs a check
against the budget, including all
open purchase orders and the
current one.

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Field/Button Activity/Description Comments

Goods Receipt POs When you issue a goods receipt

PO, the application performs a
check against the budget, including
all open goods receipt POs and the
current one.
Accounting When you issue an A/P invoice or
any other accounting transaction
that involves a G/L account
relevant to the budget, the
application performs a check.

4. To save changes, choose the Update Button.

5. When SAP Business One displays the Mark all P&L accounts as budget accounts? dialog box,
choose Yes.
Result
The Relevant to Budget checkbox is selected in all your profit-and-loss G/L accounts.

Note
ƒ You can find this checkbox in Financials → Chart of Accounts → Account Details
pushbutton.
ƒ You can manually select non profit-and-loss G/L accounts to be relevant to the
budget by selecting the Relevant to Budget checkbox for each G/L account.
In the course of routine work, when you create a transaction against a relevant-to-budget expense G/L
account, the application executes a check for deviation from the budget, and if the budget is
exceeded, it issues a system message.
If the Purchase Order, Goods Receipt POs, and Accounting checkboxes are selected, the application
performs a check for deviation from the budget during the generation of purchase orders, goods
receipt POs, and A/P invoices.
If the budget is exceeded, the following dialog box is displayed:

If you defined to block transactions that exceed the budget, the application does not add such
transactions and issues an alert to that effect.

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Defining Budget Distribution Methods

You can automatically divide the budget among the months of the year.

Note
Budget distribution methods are not relevant for working with an annual.
During the setup of a new company, SAP Business One automatically defines the following 3 common
budget distribution methods:
• Equal –distributes the budget amount equally among the months of the year.
• Ascending Order –distributes the budget amount in an ascending order and is used when you
increase your budget expenses over the months of the year.
For example, in January you use only a small proportion of your budget amount, in February
you increase your expenses, and so on.
• Descending Order - distributes the budget amount in a descending order and is used when you
decrease your budget expenses over the months of the year.
For example, in January you use the largest proportion of your budget amount, in February you
use a little less, and so on.
These methods cannot be revised. However, you can choose to add additional methods as described
in the following procedure.
Procedure
1. From the SAP Business One Main Menu, choose Financials → Budget Setup → Budget
Distribution Methods.

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2. To switch to Add mode, use one of the following methods:

{ From the menu bar, choose Data → Add

{ Click (Add) in the toolbar

{ Press Ctrl+A
3. In the Budget Distribution Methods – Setup window, specify the following data:
Field/Button Activity/Description Comments

Method Internal number automatically

assigned to the distribution
method.
Method Name Specify a name for the distribution
method.
Total Specify the total value to be
distributed among the months.
Month A numerical representation of the
month of the year.
Factor Define the proportion of the total to The factor total has to match
be assigned to each month. the total distribution.
Set as Default Lets you define a certain This setting automatically
distribution method as the default selects the chosen method
method. when you define the budget.

4. To add your chosen method, click the Add button.

Note
You can change the distribution of the budget amounts manually in the Budget Item
Details window. For more information, see Changing the Distribution of Budget
Amounts.

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Using Budget Scenarios

Budget scenarios are used mainly for displaying budget reports. Using a scenario, you create a
prognosis of a particular situation for the company's budget and obtain important information about
what the budgetary balance would be according to the selected scenario.

Example
This figure illustrates an optimistic scenario versus a pessimistic scenario. Each budget
scenario is assigned to a particular fiscal year.

When you set up a new company, the application provides a default scenario called Main Budget. This
scenario cannot be altered.

Defining a New Budget Scenario

1. From the SAP Business One Main Menu, choose Financials → Budget Setup → Budget
Scenarios.
The scenarios assigned to the selected fiscal year are displayed.

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2. In the Fiscal Year field choose a different fiscal year to display its assigned scenarios.
The options in Fiscal Year are based on the posting periods you set in the Posting Periods
window (Administration → System Initialization → Posting Periods).

Note
You can set a Fiscal Year start for the first day of the month only.
3. To add a new budget scenario row, use one of the following methods:
{ From the menu bar, choose Data → Add Row
{ Right-click in the window and choose Add Row
{ Press Ctrl+I
4. In the Budget Scenarios – Setup window, specify the following data:
Field/Button Activity/Description Comments

Budget Name Specify a name for the budget
scenario.
Based On Choose the budget scenario on
which to base this budget scenario.
Initial Ratio (%) Set the percentage of the defined
budget in relation to its base
budget.
Rounding Method Select one of the following
rounding methods for budget
amounts in the scenario:
• No Rounding
• Round to Full Decimal
Amount
• Round to Full Amount
• Round to Full Tens Amount
Changing the rounding method is
relevant only when you base your
scenario on a different one. Budget
amounts for independent budget
scenarios are not rounded.
Copy Scenario Opens the Copy Budget Scenarios
window.
Import Scenario Opens the Import Budget
Scenarios window.
This name is unique to that
fiscal year.
An independent budget
scenario should be based on
itself.
The budget amounts are
rounded only when the
scenario is created. If you
later define or change a
budget amount in the base
scenario, the budget amount
calculated for this scenario is
not rounded.
For examples, see Appendix
- Examples of Rounding
Methods.
For information, see sections
Importing Budget Scenarios
and Copying Budget
Scenarios.

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5. To save your settings, choose the Update button.

Note
ƒ You can update a particular scenario by going to the Budget Scenario Definition
window and entering amounts manually, irrespective of the ratio that has been
defined. For information, see Defining a Budget.
ƒ In the course of routine work, deviation from the budget is checked against the
main budget only. The other scenarios are only for reports.

Importing Budget Scenarios

The Import Budget Scenario function lets you import budget data from a company to the company with
which you are currently working, and duplicate a budget scenario in the same company, for the same
fiscal year or for the next fiscal year.

Note
Make sure during the operation that the G/L account codes in the source company match
those in the target company.
1. From the SAP Business One Main Menu, choose Financials → Budget Setup → Budget
Scenarios.
2. To open the Import Budget Scenarios window, choose the Import Scenario button.

The window contains the following data:

Field/Button Activity/Description Comments

Original Data
Choose Company Select the source company from
which to import the source
scenario.
Database Name Displays the database name of the
selected source company.

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Field/Button Activity/Description Comments

Company Name Displays the company name of the

selected source company.
Original Scenario Select the required scenario to
import.

Destination Data
Database Name Displays the database name of the
company you are currently working
in, and into which you are importing
the budget data (cannot be
changed).
Company Name Displays the company name of the
company you are currently working
in, and into which you are importing
the budget data (cannot be
changed).
Destination Scenario Select the target scenario into
which you want to import the
budget scenario data.

3. Choose the Choose Company button to open a corresponding window. Select the required
company database and choose the OK button.
4. Specify the Original Scenario and the Destination Scenario.
5. On the right, select the required G/L accounts. All the G/L accounts defined as Relevant to
Budget are displayed in this list and all are selected by default.
6. To complete the import procedure, choose the Execute button.

Note
To duplicate a budget for the next fiscal year, make sure that the source and target
scenarios have the same name.

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Copying Budget Scenarios

The Copy Budget Scenario function lets you copy budget data from a budget scenario into a target
budget scenario in the same company for the same fiscal year or for the next fiscal year.
1. From the SAP Business One Main Menu, choose Financials → Budget Setup → Budget
Scenarios.
2. To open the Copy Budget Scenarios window, choose the Copy Scenario button.

The window contains the following data:

Field/Button Activity/Description Comments

Original Data
Database Name, Display your current database
Company Name name and company name.
Original Scenario Select the scenario you want to
copy.
Destination Data
Database Name, Display your current database
Company Name name and company name.
Destination Scenario Select the target scenario to which
you want to copy the data from the
original budget scenario.

3. Select the original scenario and the destination scenario of your company.
4. On the right, select the required G/L accounts. All the G/L accounts defined as Relevant to
Budget are displayed in this list and all are selected by default.
5. To complete the copy procedure, choose the Execute button.

Note
To duplicate a budget for the next fiscal year, make sure the source and target scenarios
have the same name.

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How to Manage Budgets

Defining a Budget
Prerequisites
• The Budget Initialization option on the Budget tab under Administration → System Initialization
→ General Settings is selected.
• You have defined the following:
{ Required distribution methods. For information, see Defining Budget Distribution
Methods.
{ Required budget scenario. For information, see Defining a New Budget Scenario.
Procedure
1. From the SAP Business One Main Menu, choose Financials → Budget Setup → Budget.
2. In the Budget Scenario Definition window, choose the required G/L accounts.
The table displays G/L accounts defined as Relevant to Budget in the chart of accounts.

3. In the Scenario field, choose the scenario for which you want to define a budget. For information
about scenarios, see section Using Budget Scenarios.

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4. Choose the OK button to open the Budget Scenarios - Setup (Scenario - XXX) window.
This window displays G/L accounts defined as Relevant to Budget in the chart of accounts, and
for which an amount was entered in the budget.

Header
Field/Button Activity/Description Comments

Fiscal Year The fiscal year linked to the

selected budget scenario.
Display Accounts with no Lets you display G/L accounts for
Budget which no budget amount has been
entered.

Row Details
Field/Button Activity/Description Comments

Acct No. The G/L account code as defined

in the chart of accounts.
Acct Name The G/L account name.
Parent Acct You can determine the budget
amount of a specific G/L account
according to a percentage
calculated from an existing budget
amount of another G/L account.
Use the TAB key to display a list of
G/L accounts with budget amounts,
select the required G/L account,
and specify a value in the % field to
the right.
The option of linking budget
amounts to parent accounts
is used for calculations only.
For this reason, the budget
amount entered in the Parent
Acc. field and divided among
its child G/L accounts, is not
actually deducted from the
budget of the parent account.
However, the budget
amounts are managed
separately for each G/L
account.

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How to Manage Budgets

Field/Button Activity/Description Comments

% If you have selected a parent If the parent account's

Method
Local Debit / Credit
System Debit, Credit
Actual
Actual (SC)
Actual – Future - Local,
Actual – Future - System
account for a certain G/L account,
specify the proportionate budget
percentage you want to allocate to
the child G/L account.
Select a default monthly budget
distribution method from those
defined in your company
Specify an amount in local
currency for each G/L account.
Let you manually change the
system currency budget amounts,
which were calculated according to
the amounts in local currency
multiplied by the relevant exchange
rate.
Displays the G/L account's balance
to date based on its local currency
journal entries in SAP Business
One.
Displays the G/L account's balance
to date based on its system
currency journal entries in SAP
Business One.
Displays the future balance of the
G/L account. The future balance
displays the amounts of open
purchase orders and goods receipt
POs.
budget is $1000 and you
define 10%, the child
account's budget is $100.
You can define a different
method for each G/L
account.
SAP Business One checks
the budget for deviations
against the debit side. Thus,
alerts are only triggered for
accounts with a budgeted
amount in the Debit column.
You can use the Credit field
for sales accounts to set
revenue targets which you
can track with the budget
report.
By default, these fields are
hidden.
By default, this field is
hidden.
By default, these fields are
hidden.

Note

• You display or hide columns in this window by clicking (Form Settings) and
selecting the relevant fields.
• When you create a new budget that includes accounts without previous budget
definitions, the window does not display any accounts. In such a case, select the
Display Accounts with no Budget checkbox.

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5. For each account, you can change the budget amount, percentage, and distribution method.
You can also change the distribution of the budget amounts manually using the Budget Item
Details window. For more information, see Changing the Distribution of Budget
Amounts.
6. To save your changes, choose the Update button.
Result
The budget is defined for the selected accounts, enabling you to perform an analysis by comparing the
defined budget with the actual business activity.

Changing the Distribution of Budget Amounts

Use the Budget Item Details window to manually change the distribution of the budget amounts.
1. From the SAP Business One Main Menu, choose Financials → Budget Setup → Budget.
2. Choose the required G/L account.
3. To access a detailed display of the G/L account's budget, double-click the required row number
in the table, or right-click the row and choose Row Details.
The Budget Item Details window is displayed for the selected G/L account.

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{ The budget amount is distributed among the months according to the selected method.
{ You can manually change the amount for each month.
{ The Header area displays the following data:
Field/Button Activity/Description Comments

Account Number The code of the selected G/L

account.
Account Name The name of the selected G/L
account.
Total (Local) The total budget amount in local
currency defined for the selected
G/L account.
Total (System) The total budget amount in system
currency defined for the selected
G/L account.

4. Change the following data, as needed:

Field/Button Activity/ Description Comments

Month The month of the year. You cannot edit this field
Local The budget amount in local
currency that was distributed to
each month.
System The budget amount in system
currency that was distributed to
each month.
% The proportion out of the overall You cannot edit this field
budget amount that was distributed
to each month.
For Reconciliation If the total of the % column is not
100, this row displays the amount
remaining to be distributed.
Remarks Specify special remarks for each Note that the remarks are
month, if required. saved per month, so make
sure to click the name of the
relevant month before
entering your remarks.
Update Differences If you change the monthly budget
amounts and, as a result, the total
budget value is not fully allocated,
choose this button to specify the
remaining value in the budget
amount of the last month.

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5. To save your changes, choose the Update button.

Note
If you change the budget amounts manually, the Method column in the Budget Scenarios
– Setup window changes to Man. (manual) and is marked in red in the corresponding
G/L account row.

Defining Budgets after the Commencement of Activity

When you define a budget amount for a G/L account that already has a bookkeeping balance, SAP
Business One displays the following dialog box:

Choose one of the following:

Field/Button Activity/ Description Comments

Yes Copies the current G/L account's

Example
bookkeeping balance to the Actual
column. This means that SAP If you specify a budget
Business One considers the amount for a G/L account
current bookkeeping balance as its with a current bookkeeping
starts to calculate the used budget balance of USD 1000 and
amounts. you choose Yes, SAP
Business One copies the
USD 1000 bookkeeping
balance to the Actual
column, and starts counting
the used budget amount
from this value.
No Ignores the G/L account's current
bookkeeping balance and starts
calculating the used budget as of
this moment (zero budget amount
used).
All Confirms the action for all the
selected G/L accounts.
Not for All Rejects the action for all the
selected G/L accounts.

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Printing Budgets
SAP Business One lets you print windows, documents, and reports. You can set default print layouts
for budgets.
1. To print budgets, from the SAP Business One Main Menu, choose Financials → Budget Setup
→ Budget.
2. In the Budget Scenario Definition window, select the relevant budget and choose the OK button.

3. From the Tools menu, choose Print Layout Designer, or click in the toolbar.
4. Choose the preferred printing layout.
5. From the File menu, choose Print.

Note
You can edit the default layouts or create new ones by using Print Layout Designer
(PLD). From the Tools menu, choose Print Layout Designer, or click in the toolbar.
For more information about PLD, see the How to Customize Printing Layouts with the
Print Layout Designer document, which you can download from the documentation area
of the SAP Business One Customer Portal at
http://service.sap.com/smb/sbocustomer/documentation.

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Working with Budget Reports

Creating Budget Report
This report analyzes the business activities that occur during a defined period, with reference to a
selected budget scenario. Use this window to specify selection criteria for the Budget report.
1. From the SAP Business One Main Menu, choose Financials → Financial Reports → Budget
Reports → Budget Report.
The Budget Report – Selection Criteria window opens:

2. If you are working with a multiannual company, choose the desired fiscal year.
3. Specify the following data:
Field/Button Activity/ Description Comments

Scenario Select the required budget Budget scenarios are

Profit Center, Project
Annual Report, Quarterly
Report or Monthly Report
Local currency or Display
in SC (system currency)
Display POs and GRPOs
scenario and the required range of displayed according to the
G/L accounts. selected fiscal year.
Specify a profit center and/or a
project to display relevant G/L
accounts only.
Specify the time frame for the
report.
Specify whether to display the
report in local or system currency.
The amount in the Future column
of the budget report includes open
purchase orders and open goods
receipt POs.

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Field/Button Activity/ Description Comments

Date Select a fiscal year.

Use the months bar to select the
required date range. Click the first
required month, hold down the
SHIFT key, and click the last
required month.
You can select the entire year by
clicking Date.

4. To generate the Budget report, choose the Execute button.

The Budget report displays the following data:

Header
Field/Button Activity/ Description Comments

Date From, To The fiscal year of the budget

Display Subtotals
scenario.
Displays subtotals next to title G/L If you deselect this
accounts. checkbox, budget balances
are displayed only next to
active G/L accounts.

Row Details
Field/Button Activity/ Description Comments

Account Name Displays the account/title code and

name.
Budget The amount entered in the budget
definition.

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Field/Button Activity/ Description Comments

Actual The G/L account balance for the

selected period.
Future The amount from open purchase This column is displayed
orders and goods receipt POs when the Display POs and
linked to the G/L account. GRPOs checkbox is
selected.
Total Displays the overall total of both Total = Actual + Future
the actual budget amount used
plus the future amount to be used.
Difference The difference between the budget Difference = Budget amounts
amount and the Total column. – (Actual + Future)
Difference in % Calculation of the difference in
percentage terms.

5. To access different levels of detail in the report, click and choose the desired level at
the bottom right field.

Example
Select 1 to display only the drawers, or select the highest level number to display all your
G/L accounts, down to the active G/L accounts.

6. To add a graphic display to the Budget report, click .

7. In the Chart Style field, select a graph display. The graph options are as follows:
{ Line Graph
{ Draw Line Graph
{ Bar Graph
{ Spline Graph
To print the graph with the Budget report, select the Print Graph checkbox.

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Creating Balance Sheet, Trial Balance, and Profit and Loss

Statement Budget Reports
You can generate these reports according to a specific scenario.
To open the relevant report, from the SAP Business One Main Menu, choose Financials → Financial
Reports → Budget Reports → Balance Sheet/Trial Balance/Profit and Loss Statement Budget
Reports.

Printing Budget Reports

SAP Business One lets you print windows, documents, and reports. You can set default print layouts
for budget reports.
1. To print budget reports, from the SAP Business One Main Menu, choose Financials → Financial
Reports → Budget Reports → Budget Report.
2. In the Budget Report – Selection Criteria window, specify the selection criteria and choose the
Execute button.

3. In the Budget Report window, from the Tools menu, choose Print Layout Designer, or click
in the toolbar.
4. Choose the preferred printing layout.
5. From the File menu, choose Print.

Note
You can edit the default layouts or create new ones by using Print Layout Designer
(PLD). From the Tools menu, choose Print Layout Designer, or click in the toolbar.
For more information about PLD, see the How to Customize Printing Layouts with the
Print Layout Designer document, which you can download from the documentation area
of the SAP Business One Customer Portal at
http://service.sap.com/smb/sbocustomer/documentation.

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Appendix - Examples of Rounding Methods

When budget scenarios are based on other scenarios, the budget amounts are rounded according to
the scenario’s defined rounding method.
For example, with a budget amount of 13.78 (calculated from a base scenario), the following table
shows the final amount for each rounding method:
Rounding Method Rounded Number Comments

No Rounding
Round to Full Decimal Amount
Round to Full Amount
Round to Full Tens Amount
13.78
13.80 Round to the nearest tenth.
0.05 or above is rounded to the next
tenth.
Below 0.05 is rounded to the previous
tenth.
14 Round to the nearest whole number.
0.5 or above is rounded to the next whole
number.
Below 0.5 is rounded to the previous
whole number.
10 Round to the nearest 10.
5 or above is rounded to the next 10.
Below 5 is rounded to the previous 10.

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Authorizations
For information about the authorizations required to manage budgets, see the online help for SAP
Business One and the document How to Define Authorizations in the documentation area of SAP
Business One Customer Portal at http://service.sap.com/smb/sbocustomer/documentation.

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Database Tables Reference

For information about the tables used in a perpetual inventory system, see the .chm file: Database
Tables Reference. You can download it from SAP Community Network.
To download the Database Tables Reference .chm file:
...

1. Go to https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/businessone.
2. Under BUSINESS ONE KNOWLEDGE CENTER, click the link of the SAP Business One
release version you want.
3. Click the SDK Help Center link.
4. In the File Download window, do one of the following:
{ To open the .zip file, choose the Open button; then extract the REFDB.chm file to your
computer.
{ To save the .zip file to your computer, choose the Save button. You can open the .zip file
and extract the REFDB.chm file later.

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Copyrights, Trademarks, and Disclaimers

© Copyright 2009 SAP AG. All rights reserved.

The current version of the copyrights, trademarks, and disclaimers at

http://service.sap.com/smb/sbocustomer/documentation is valid for this document.

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